There are three Christmas Bird Counts conducted in our area: China Lake, Lake Isabella and South Fork Kern River. This is a part of the traditional Christmas Bird Counts that have been ongoing across North America for over 120 years. As information becomes available, detailed information for each count will be posted here.
The China Lake count has been held every year since about 1960. Volunteers are assigned a portion of the 15 mile diameter count circle to canvass for and count all the birds seen. We meet at 7 AM at the parking lot at Leroy Jackson County Park for assignments. We meet again at lunch to see how everyone is doing. At the end of the day we normally meet for pizza and tallying the results. Contact us at webmaster@kerncrestaudubon.org to sign up for this event.
The South Fork Valley (SF Kern River Valley) CBC in Kern County, California will be held on Saturday, December 31, 2022. The count circle is centered near the Cottage Grove Cemetery along State Route 178 just east of Onyx. It encompasses the Canebrake Valley and the Canebrake Ecological Reserve, the NW portion of the Scodie Mountains, the Onyx area, the SE portion of the Kern Plateau (Bartolas Country), the Weldon area (including the Kern River Preserve), and the Fay Creek and Kelso Creek watersheds. Habitats include desert scrub, Joshua tree woodland, conifer forest, extensive riparian forest, and ag fields. We usually find about 95-100 species. If you’d like to join the count, please contact Denise LaBerteaux – email: eremico@aol.com; phone: 760-617-6306. We will not meet in the morning. I will assign count areas prior to count day. I prefer that you submit your data using eBIRD. More information to come about data submittals. Compilation dinner TBD.
The Kern River Valley Count will be held on Sunday, January 1, 2023. Information on the KRV CBC is found at: www.natureali.org/CAKR_cbc.htm
Here are links to view and download the results from the 2021 Christmas Bird Counts conducted in the KernCrest Audubon Area.